Better combat logs (mostly for combat parsing)

[mkaito]

I googled for this, and am surprised it hasn't been brought up. If it has, and I missed it, then I guess google failed me. My apologies if I'm reposting.

Elitism aside, combat parsers are a great tool to analyse a fight and improve as a player. I miss the incredibly detailed analysis that was available to players in Everquest 2. Parser programmers are being incredibly creative in order to obtain the data they need, but even with less than orthodox methods, we can only work with limited data and an incomplete picture of what's going on in the game.

I'm fully aware that if they intend at all to improve the logs, it's a low priority concern, but we should still express our desire for better logs.

I'm not a parser developer, so my knowledge is less than complete. I have a few ideas, but I hope people with more knowledge chime in.

• Damage over time is excluded completely.
• Ground targeted spells such as Fire Arrow or Shadow Flare are impossible to link to a player.
• Lines denoting damage taken by mobs carry no information whatsoever except for the amount of damage and the mob who takes it. It should also include who did the damage, the kind of damage, whether it was a crit, and what skill was used to do the damage.
• Pets are completely unlinked from their owners, resulting in two separate entities, and different pets with the same name being indistinguishable.
• Heals that actually heal something and those who are over heals should be differentiated.
• When a shield absorbs damage, it should be specified.
• Health absorbs should be specified.
• All heals and shields need to be linked to the caster.
• Zone names should be present in the logs, or otherwise accessible.
• Log data should be conserved, as to have a log history available, so one can go and look at parsed data from old fights.

[WutangRZA]

I agree, though fwiw, parser developers have found the memory offsets for a lot of these things, so parser accuracy is considerably higher than it used to be (and they can also probably be considered more than parsers since they're doing a lot more than just parsing the logs).

You can verify this with the newest FFXIV-app by joining a party with a summoner and have him DoT'ing a target dummy. The "parser" will accurately record his damage, and the only way that's possible is by hooking into memory.

[Lenarr]

I second this. The logs really need to provide more information. I suspect it's a low priority for SE right now, but hopefully they eventually improve them.

[mkaito]

I agree, though fwiw, parser developers have found the memory offsets for a lot of these things, so parser accuracy is considerably higher than it used to be (and they can also probably be considered more than parsers since they're doing a lot more than just parsing the logs).

You can verify this with the newest FFXIV-app by joining a party with a summoner and have him DoT'ing a target dummy. The "parser" will accurately record his damage, and the only way that's possible is by hooking into memory.

Indeed you can ascertain some bits and pieces, often almost complete pictures, by relying on less than orthodox methods. But my point is that we should not have to rely on such methods. Reading from memory is unreliable at best, and perhaps even against the EULA.

[DSN]

I agree, though fwiw, parser developers have found the memory offsets for a lot of these things, so parser accuracy is considerably higher than it used to be (and they can also probably be considered more than parsers since they're doing a lot more than just parsing the logs).

You can verify this with the newest FFXIV-app by joining a party with a summoner and have him DoT'ing a target dummy. The "parser" will accurately record his damage, and the only way that's possible is by hooking into memory.

This is a slippery slope as a log parser can run offline with the game closed and does not violate the ToS where hooking the client and reading memory probably does.

[RileyLarson]

This would be wonderful.

[RileyLarson]

Adding on to this, something as simple as 'You enter combat' and 'You exit combat' would be absurdly welcome.

[Armag]

I agree ! You need to put more informations into the battle log...

[Laraul]

How about making the battle log more legible and easier to read within the game? I think it's silly people feel they must use a parser to understand how a battle went? If a fellow party member is KO'd during battle, it should be easy to find what exactly what happened by looking over the battle log. High-light player names, enemy names, ability names, for example would help see who did what!

[nakomaru]

Please improve combat logs per mkaito's suggestions.